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Agronomist addresses corn farmers’ concerns heading into planting

A recent survey of Corn Belt farmers conducted by Pioneer shows the greatest concerns going into planting season are too much moisture, too little moisture, and crop nutrition.

Dan Berning, Pioneer Agronomy Manager for the western Corn Belt tells Brownfield crop nutrition and soil fertility is always on farmers’ minds.

“Especially as we have seen fertilizer prices escalate over the past few months, growers are wondering what they need to do to be more efficient with soil fertility.”

For farmers in the eastern Corn Belt battling wetter conditions, Berning says farmers may need to delay planting until conditions are fit and choose hybrids that are suited for prolonged wet conditions.

“Ones that have good root strength, good disease tolerance and are able to get out those potentially cooler wetter soils. Use some premium seed treatments to help hold off soil born disease organisms that tend to thrive in wet soils.”  

For dry areas in the western Corn Belt, he says farmers should consider drought tolerant hybrids and measures to prevent crop stress.

“Control weeds before they emerge and become competitive for that precious moisture. Maybe stagger planting dates or maturities a little bit so if we do end up with some prolonged drought conditions we are not faced with significant stress during that critical flowering period.”

Nearly 850 corn growers took part in the survey via Twitter and Instagram.